Netball is popular in several parts of Asia. [1] [2] [3] [4] The IFNA Asia region includes countries such as Australia (geopolitically considered part of Oceania), India, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. [5] The major regional competition is the Asian Netball Championship. [1] [2] [3] [4] In 1994, the first Asian Youth Championship was held in Hong Kong. [6]
Netball has the highest participation rate of any team sport—male or female—in Australia; [7] [8] [9] [10] however, it has not managed to become a large spectator sport. [11] In 2005 and 2006, netball was the 10th most popular spectator sport for women after tennis. [12] The country set an attendance record for a netball match with a record crowd of 14,339 at the Australia – New Zealand Netball Test held at the Sydney SuperDome game in 2004. [13]
Netball was brought to Australia by English school teachers, with a team having been organised by 1904 at Parramatta Superior Schools. [7] In 1927, a national federation for the sport, Australian Women's Basketball Association, was created. [7] During the 1930s in Australia, much of the participation in netball at universities was not organised and players were not required to register. [14] It was believed that this was a positive for netball as it allowed people to participate who might not have participated otherwise. [14] Australia's national team toured England in 1957. This tour resulted in a number of Commonwealth countries meeting together in order to try to standardise the rules of the game. [15] The sport's name "netball" became official in Australia in 1970. [16] [17] Netball was one of the eight foundation sports when the Australian Institute of Sport was created. [7] The national federation changed their name to Netball Australia in 1995. [7] The Government of New South Wales committed over A$5,000,000 to creating and improving sporting facilities in the state. Some of this funding went to improving netball facilities. [7]
In Australia 80% of netball is played at netball clubs. [10] The number of netball clubs around Australia has been in decline since the 1940s. [18] Still, there are around 350,000 registered players and over 1.2 million total players in the country. [19] Prior to the creation of the ANZ Championship, the National Netball League was the major competition in Australia. [20] It included teams from the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. [20]
The Australian national netball team is regarded as the most successful netball team in international netball. It won the first world championships in 1963 in England, [17] and nine of the twelve Netball World Championships to date. In addition to being the current world champion, it is ranked first on the INF World Rankings. [21] Australia beat the Silver Ferns to win the World Youth Netball Championships in July 2009 in the Cook Islands. [22] Australia also has a men's national team. It has competed in the 2009 and 2011 International Challenge Men's and Mixed Netball Tournament. [23]
Women started playing netball in India as early as 1926. [24] The Sports Authority of India and the Government of India have provided much funding with the goal of improving the performance of the country's youth national team. [24] India had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2001. [1] National team captains include Prachi Tehlan, who captained the side that competed in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. [24] Some of the important netball competitions held in India include the 2010 Commonwealth Games, [15] and the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship, held from 3 to 10 July 2010, at the Thyagaraj Stadium. [24] Some of the top performances for the India national netball team include coming in sixth place at the 2010 Nations Cup [25] and coming in fourth at the 2010 Asian Youth Netball Championship. [6]
Netball is the most popular women's sport in Malaysia. [26] The national organisation, Malaysian Netball Association, was created in 1978. [26] The sport is part of the national curriculum beginning at year 3. [26] Netball is promoted at the Sport Carnival for All (KESUMA). [27] In 1998, 113 districts held netball competitions. [27] That year, there were 1,718 registered netball teams in the country. [27] In 2001, netball was sufficiently popular in South East Asia for it to be included in the 21st Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur. [6] Malaysia had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship in Colombo in 2001. [1] Malaysia also competed in the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship in India in 2010. [24] Petronas, the national oil company, has been a major sponsor of netball in the country. This type of sponsorship was encouraged by the government as part of the Rakan Sukan programme. [28] As of August 2016, the women's national team was ranked number nineteenth in the world. Following the appointment of a new coach, Tracey Robinson, they won the Asian Championships in 2016 and followed that up with South East Asian Games gold medal win in 2017. [29]
Netball Singapore is the official governing body for the sport in Singapore. [30] It was created in 1962, with 63 registered clubs. [30] There are 80,000 netball players in Singapore. [30] There are several variations of netball played in the country, including beach netball. [30] In Singapore, the SSC is responsible for maintaining 8 netball courts. [31] Singapore has several national squads: Opens, 21 & Under, 19 & Under (Post School), 19 & Under (Schools), 17 & Under, and 14 & Under. [32] The national team competed in its first major tournament in 1967 at the Netball World Championships. [6] Singapore had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2001. [1] Singapore competed in the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship held in 2010 in India. [24] In 2000, netball was sufficiently popular that the professional Netball Super League (NSL) was formed. [6] The Netball Super League is a seven-week-long netball tournament developed to cater for elite players in Singapore. [33] It was established and is governed by Netball Singapore and six teams compete. [6] In 2004, the audience was big enough that the Netball Super League was broadcast on television. [6] The Stingrays came in second in 2008 and first in the 2009 competition. [34] The 2010 competition was won by the Malaysian Arowanas. [35] As of August 2016, the women's national team was ranked number seventeenth in the world. [29]
Netball was first played in Sri Lanka in 1921. [36] The first game was played by Ceylon Girl Guide Company at Kandy High School. [36] The first interschool march was played between Kandy High School and Colombo Ladies College in February 1925. [36] In 1927, netball was played at Government Training College for the first time. This helped spread the game around Sri Lanka. [36] The game was being played at Methodist College Colombo and Bishop's College by the 1930s. [36] By 1952, Sri Lankan clubs were playing Indian club sides. [36] By 1952, Sri Lankan clubs were playing Indian club sides. [36] In 1956, Sri Lanka played its first international match against Australia's national team in Sri Lanka. [36] Sri Lanka took part in the 1960 netball meeting of Commonwealth countries to try to standardise the rules for the game. [15] This meeting took place in Sri Lanka. [15] In 1972, the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka was created. [36] In 1983, Netball Federation of Sri Lanka was dissolved by the government. [36] Sri Lanka had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2001. [1] Sri Lanka competed in the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship held in 2010 in India. [24] As of August 2016, the women's national team was ranked number twenty-seven in the world. [29]
Netball is popular in several parts of Asia. [1] [2] [3] [4] The IFNA Asia region includes countries such as Australia (geopolitically considered part of Oceania), India, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. [5] The major regional competition is the Asian Netball Championship. [1] [2] [3] [4] In 1994, the first Asian Youth Championship was held in Hong Kong. [6]
Netball has the highest participation rate of any team sport—male or female—in Australia; [7] [8] [9] [10] however, it has not managed to become a large spectator sport. [11] In 2005 and 2006, netball was the 10th most popular spectator sport for women after tennis. [12] The country set an attendance record for a netball match with a record crowd of 14,339 at the Australia – New Zealand Netball Test held at the Sydney SuperDome game in 2004. [13]
Netball was brought to Australia by English school teachers, with a team having been organised by 1904 at Parramatta Superior Schools. [7] In 1927, a national federation for the sport, Australian Women's Basketball Association, was created. [7] During the 1930s in Australia, much of the participation in netball at universities was not organised and players were not required to register. [14] It was believed that this was a positive for netball as it allowed people to participate who might not have participated otherwise. [14] Australia's national team toured England in 1957. This tour resulted in a number of Commonwealth countries meeting together in order to try to standardise the rules of the game. [15] The sport's name "netball" became official in Australia in 1970. [16] [17] Netball was one of the eight foundation sports when the Australian Institute of Sport was created. [7] The national federation changed their name to Netball Australia in 1995. [7] The Government of New South Wales committed over A$5,000,000 to creating and improving sporting facilities in the state. Some of this funding went to improving netball facilities. [7]
In Australia 80% of netball is played at netball clubs. [10] The number of netball clubs around Australia has been in decline since the 1940s. [18] Still, there are around 350,000 registered players and over 1.2 million total players in the country. [19] Prior to the creation of the ANZ Championship, the National Netball League was the major competition in Australia. [20] It included teams from the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. [20]
The Australian national netball team is regarded as the most successful netball team in international netball. It won the first world championships in 1963 in England, [17] and nine of the twelve Netball World Championships to date. In addition to being the current world champion, it is ranked first on the INF World Rankings. [21] Australia beat the Silver Ferns to win the World Youth Netball Championships in July 2009 in the Cook Islands. [22] Australia also has a men's national team. It has competed in the 2009 and 2011 International Challenge Men's and Mixed Netball Tournament. [23]
Women started playing netball in India as early as 1926. [24] The Sports Authority of India and the Government of India have provided much funding with the goal of improving the performance of the country's youth national team. [24] India had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2001. [1] National team captains include Prachi Tehlan, who captained the side that competed in the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. [24] Some of the important netball competitions held in India include the 2010 Commonwealth Games, [15] and the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship, held from 3 to 10 July 2010, at the Thyagaraj Stadium. [24] Some of the top performances for the India national netball team include coming in sixth place at the 2010 Nations Cup [25] and coming in fourth at the 2010 Asian Youth Netball Championship. [6]
Netball is the most popular women's sport in Malaysia. [26] The national organisation, Malaysian Netball Association, was created in 1978. [26] The sport is part of the national curriculum beginning at year 3. [26] Netball is promoted at the Sport Carnival for All (KESUMA). [27] In 1998, 113 districts held netball competitions. [27] That year, there were 1,718 registered netball teams in the country. [27] In 2001, netball was sufficiently popular in South East Asia for it to be included in the 21st Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur. [6] Malaysia had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship in Colombo in 2001. [1] Malaysia also competed in the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship in India in 2010. [24] Petronas, the national oil company, has been a major sponsor of netball in the country. This type of sponsorship was encouraged by the government as part of the Rakan Sukan programme. [28] As of August 2016, the women's national team was ranked number nineteenth in the world. Following the appointment of a new coach, Tracey Robinson, they won the Asian Championships in 2016 and followed that up with South East Asian Games gold medal win in 2017. [29]
Netball Singapore is the official governing body for the sport in Singapore. [30] It was created in 1962, with 63 registered clubs. [30] There are 80,000 netball players in Singapore. [30] There are several variations of netball played in the country, including beach netball. [30] In Singapore, the SSC is responsible for maintaining 8 netball courts. [31] Singapore has several national squads: Opens, 21 & Under, 19 & Under (Post School), 19 & Under (Schools), 17 & Under, and 14 & Under. [32] The national team competed in its first major tournament in 1967 at the Netball World Championships. [6] Singapore had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2001. [1] Singapore competed in the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship held in 2010 in India. [24] In 2000, netball was sufficiently popular that the professional Netball Super League (NSL) was formed. [6] The Netball Super League is a seven-week-long netball tournament developed to cater for elite players in Singapore. [33] It was established and is governed by Netball Singapore and six teams compete. [6] In 2004, the audience was big enough that the Netball Super League was broadcast on television. [6] The Stingrays came in second in 2008 and first in the 2009 competition. [34] The 2010 competition was won by the Malaysian Arowanas. [35] As of August 2016, the women's national team was ranked number seventeenth in the world. [29]
Netball was first played in Sri Lanka in 1921. [36] The first game was played by Ceylon Girl Guide Company at Kandy High School. [36] The first interschool march was played between Kandy High School and Colombo Ladies College in February 1925. [36] In 1927, netball was played at Government Training College for the first time. This helped spread the game around Sri Lanka. [36] The game was being played at Methodist College Colombo and Bishop's College by the 1930s. [36] By 1952, Sri Lankan clubs were playing Indian club sides. [36] By 1952, Sri Lankan clubs were playing Indian club sides. [36] In 1956, Sri Lanka played its first international match against Australia's national team in Sri Lanka. [36] Sri Lanka took part in the 1960 netball meeting of Commonwealth countries to try to standardise the rules for the game. [15] This meeting took place in Sri Lanka. [15] In 1972, the Netball Federation of Sri Lanka was created. [36] In 1983, Netball Federation of Sri Lanka was dissolved by the government. [36] Sri Lanka had a national team compete in the fifth Asian Netball Championship held in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2001. [1] Sri Lanka competed in the 7th Asian Youth Netball Championship held in 2010 in India. [24] As of August 2016, the women's national team was ranked number twenty-seven in the world. [29]